The present invention relates to improved surfaces and pans for grilling foods.
Prior methods of grilling foods involve either pacing food on a wire mesh over an open flame, or a cooking at high temperatures in enclosed pan, the pan having a series of ribs for searing the food in contact therewith, emulating in part the action of the wire mesh in open flame cooking. In the former case fat and liquid is removed from the foods by dripping through the mesh into the flame. In the latter case of pan grilling, the ribs or pan surface is situated to drain the fat away from the food being cooked, lest it reach the level of the supporting ribs and simmer rather than sear the food surface.
Open flame cooking is generally limited to outdoor cooking, as special venting is needed to exhaust the smoke and flames produced by burning fat. However, certain foods are particularly difficult to cook over an open flame. High fat foods, such as hamburgers and chicken, can produce so much liquid fat that the open flame flares up to burn or deposit soot onto the food, unless it is constantly moved or flames are constantly reduced with a water spray.
Grilling pans are frequently deployed in outdoor use to provide removable, washable cooking surface, as opposed to a grid that is very large or permanently installed on a barbeque or fire ring. Such outdoor grill pans, in order to achieve direct radiant heating have openings of some sort on the bottom, For example, they can be formed from closely spaced wires, and can take the form of a basket for retaining and even tossing particular foods, or a slat sheet of metal having a sequence of holes punched therein. Such grill pans with a closer spacing of wires or smaller holes make it easier for the cook to prepare and remove the delicate food from the grill surface with spatula as well as avoid dropping it through the opening in the larger grill surface, which would not support the grill pan. However, such grill pans do not prevent the burning of foods if the cook is not alert and ready to move the pan as dripping grease cause large flares. Alternatively, when such pans utilize a flat surface, to facilitate the removal and turning of delicate food with a spatula, the holes are readily clogged by the food, and hence the food is more likely to be at least partially braised in liquid rather than seared.
Grilling pan for indoor use are known, and frequently deploy sloping channels between supporting ribs to effectively drain the fat and liquid generated during cooking away from the food. However, such grill pans do not achieve the flavor of open flame cooked foods, even when used under an oven broiler, as some burning and sizzling of the fat in an open flame flavors the meat.
One such grill pan which attempts to expose meat to an open flame while draining away at least a portion of the fat or dripping juices as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 1,625,731, issued Apr. 19, 1927. The patent discloses a cooking utensil generally used with an upper and lower grid member. The lower grid member has a surrounding trough for collecting fat drained from slot channels in the upper and lower grid member. Ribs for supporting the meat or other food separate the channels. Slots are formed between the ribs, allowing allowing flame to pass to the upper grid and the meat or food being cooked. The slots are placed between the ribs. The lower grid is oriented with respect to the upper grid channels such that some of the juices will drip to the slots in the lower grid. The patent discloses that a single grid may be deployed instead of the double grid. However, in either case a considerable quantity of fat is liable to drip out through the slots, if they are oriented to allow direct expose to the flame.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide an improved grilling surface for open flame cooking, which supports delicate foods, yet prevent burning from excess fat dripping into the fire, while at the same time giving the desired flavors of barbeque grill cooking.
It is another object of the invention to provide a pan for indoor grilling that drains the majority of the fat from food without burning, yet allows some flavoring to occur without the need for special exhaust equipment to remove the smoke produced.